I love my mother.
Yes, I think that is a good way to start any blog post. I love my mother for so many reasons, she brought me into this world, she dealt with my diapers, she kept me fed (not an easy task) and she supports me constantly as a single mother.
This past weekend was one of my favorite Thanksgivings I can remember. There is nowhere else I would rather be on Thanksgiving than at my mother’s table. The food is always delicious and the company great. And this year the wine was truly amazing.
A few months ago my mother asked me to go take a look at what she has down in her basement. I went down not expecting too much, it was rather dusty and slightly moist from being embedded in the ground and surrounded by concrete. She and I had gone to Pier 1 to get some cheap wine racks that stack on top of each other so that I could unload the decaying boxes that have been forgotten for many years of their treasures. And treasures I did find!
The prizes that I had found and convinced my mother to open for Thanksgiving were two bottles of Chateau Cheval Blanc 1978. It was like finding a diamond when you had expected a cubic zirconium. Actually, that isn’t fair, my mother has better taste than that. But I certainly did not expect to find such bottles, nor did I expect my mother to open them for Thanksgiving. My parents bought these wines; it was their anniversary year.
But we did! And it was phenomenal. Instead of turkey and the fixings, we had roast beef tenderloin and potatoes. I had several of my friends join us and I really could not have been happier.
You want tasting notes? DELICIOUS! It was so complex with an incredibly long finish and a base earthiness but still some dark berry fruit and… I could seriously go on for another page. As a novice wine geek it was heaven in a glass. Like having that perfect morsel of Belgian chocolate melt in your mouth or enjoying the work of a master artist or being moved by your favorite passage in your favorite book.
For desert we had her classic apple and pecan pies. It was a perfect end to a memorable meal.
And then the next night we had another feast, this time with my mother’s longtime friend from junior high who has been part of the family for as long as I can remember. She and her family came over with their turkey leftovers, and added to our roast leftovers it was another great meal. For this we had a Chilean wine, Altair 2003. Again, a delicious wine and while lacking the decades of winemaking that Cheval Blanc has, still more than a match for the meal and for the company.
It might have come and gone, but the memory still remains. Cheers to you mom, happy anniversary, and thank you, always.
Last night, at the retail store Sherry-Lehman, I was able to taste the 2005 and 2006 vintages of the Cheval des Andes and they do not disappoint. Both had a great character to them, showing off the skills of a talented winemaker and what the financial backing of one of the great French properties can do.
